The Last Years of Willem De Kooning 1994

Marlene Dumas made this watercolour and ink artwork called 'The Last Years of Willem De Kooning', and it's a real process piece. Look at how the ink bleeds and merges with the paper. The painting has a stark, ghostly feel. It’s mostly black, but she's used these delicate blues to outline the figure, like a shadow or an aura. See how the paint is thin, almost transparent in places, and then thick and opaque in others? It's a physical thing, this painting. I keep thinking about how the marks are deliberate, but also kind of accidental, like she's letting the materials do their thing, like life itself. It makes me think of other artists, like Francis Bacon, who also wrestled with the human form in such a raw and unsettling way. It’s a reminder that art is always an open conversation, with no fixed answers.